Solon: LGUs should focus on priority recipients' list for free COVID vaccine

House Committee on Social Services chair Alfred Vargas said Sunday local government units should focus more on validating the list of COVID-19 vaccine priority beneficiaries than putting up a pre-registration website.

Vargas made the remark as several local governments --including Manila and Caloocan City --have set up pre-registration websites for those who want to avail of COVID vaccines once the doses become available in the country.

In a Dobol B sa News TV interview, Vargas said that while LGUs' vaccination efforts are laudable, there is a need to know why they are conducting online pre-registration instead of just validating the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) list.

"Dapat kasi sa LGU, tahanan sila ng senior citizens, at yung tinatawag na indigents o mahihirap. So ano yung purpose ng pre-registration? Hindi ba dapat more on validation?" he said.

"I think what's more important is validation of the list. Kasi kapag nandiyan na yung bakuna, pipila, babakunahan, napakalaking operation nito. Kasama dapat ito sa ground work na ginagawa ngayon habang hindi pa dumarating ang bakuna," he added.

In validating the list of priority individuals for COVID-19 vaccination, Vargas said authorities should ensure that there are no duplication or inclusion of names that are supposedly not part of the list.

"Importante yan na maayos ang listahan, updated dapat at walang duplication. Walang dapat isisingit na hindi dapat kasama sa listahan, at siyempre dapat walang tatanggalin na dapat nandoon," he said.

On January 1, the city government of Manila announced that it was opening a website where residents could pre-register to get COVID-19 vaccine for free.

Eleven days later, Manila City Mayor Isko Moreno announced that a tripartite deal had already been signed with the national government and AstraZeneca for the acquisition of 800,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccine for the city's residents.

Vargas said that while local governments are awaiting the arrival of the vaccines, they should already be doing the validation of the priority list.

According to the government's vaccination roadmap, health workers and frontliners will be the first to receive the vaccine, followed by employees of select government offices, indigent senior citizens, and other indigents.

"Ang gusto natin mangyari ay nakabantay, hand in hand ang national government at local government, tapos kasama na diyan DOH, DSWD just to make sure the list maintains integrity," he said.

The Philippines targets to inoculate 50 to 70 million individuals within the year, and an estimated 50,000 is expected to be vaccinated in February.

Vaccine czar Carlito Galvez Jr. earlier said the vaccine manufactured by American corporation Pfizer could be the first that will be used against COVID-19 in the country as the COVAX Facility will have an early rollout of the said brand. —LBG, GMA News